Twirling her spoon around in her bowl of cereal, Felicity hummed lightly under her breath as she turned the page in the book she was reading. She hadn't known exactly what to expect from the impromptu cabin trip with Thea and Oliver, but three days in and it hadn't been much different than life on the tour bus. Just a little less bumpy and with more room.

Oliver had, for the most part, been stuck in a room with what he liked to refer to as a 'Thea induced hangover'. Felicity knew Thea felt bad about the no drinking while at the cabin rule, judging by the amount of time Thea spent cringing as she heard her brother get sick or the worried glances she would throw at him when he did come out of the room.

"Do you think I'm crazy," Thea had asked her the night before, lying next to Felicity outside gazing at the stars in the sky. "For the no drinking thing? He may have been making crap decisions, but at least he could get out of bed, right?"

Felicity turned her head to the side to look at Thea. "I think that what is going on with him now was going to happen eventually."

"Have you seen him? He looks like death."

Felicity shrugged, turning her head back to look at the stars. "Better to look like death than to be dead."

Thea sighed heavily. "Well when you put it like that."

"I don't think you're crazy, Thea. I think you love your brother and are worried about him. So, even if you were crazy, it'd be the justifiable kind."

"You're staring at that cereal pretty hard," Oliver's voice rang around Felicity, pulling her out of her thoughts. She glanced up from the bowl in front of her to find him sitting across the kitchen island from her, a plate of eggs in front him.

"How long have you been down here?"

"Long enough to know that you like your cereal really soggy. And apparently sugary. I kind of pictured you as more of a whole-grain muffin girl myself."

Felicity raised her eyebrow as she took a bite of the cereal. "You have a lot of thoughts about what kind of breakfast foods I enjoy?"

Oliver gave a noncommittal shrug. "Maybe."

"You look better," Felicity said with a nod toward him. "I think this is the longest I've seen your out of your room since we've been here."

"You might be right. This is definitely the most I've been able to eat." He took a bite of the eggs as if to make a point. "Thanks for noticing the improvement."

"It'd be a little hard to miss. You no longer smell or look like death."

Oliver's lip curled up slightly as he gave a half-hearted laugh. "You think a two day hangover like that might be a sign of a problem?"

"I think questioning if it is a sign of a problem and referring to what was probably withdrawal as a two day hangover is a pretty good indication."

"Well thanks," Oliver replied in a clipped voice as he focused his attention on the plate in front of him.

Felicity shrugged, shaking her head. "You asked."

Felicity finished eating her breakfast in silence, glancing up between bites occasionally to look at Oliver. Thea hadn't been lying, Oliver had looked beyond sick the last few days. But looking at him now, the color seemed to have returned to his skin and there was no longer a sheen of sweat covering him. While she knew he looked better, there was still something off about his appearance, something different.

Rolling her eyes at her last thought, Felicity gathered up her dishes and carried them into the kitchen, rinsing them out. Walking back to the island, she picked up her cell phone glaring at the screen as the no service button caught her attention.

"How is it even possible that I have better reception on a highway than in a cabin that is at most twenty miles from town," Felicity asked in a whiny way.

Oliver huffed out a small chuckle as he attempted to take another bite. He shook his head as he swallowed the food before responding. "One of the big reasons my parents loved this place was the convenience of town, but with the middle of nowhere feel to it. I think they are the reason there's no reception out here."

"That's awful."

"That's my parents for you."

Oliver looked up from his plate to shrug at Felicity as he repeated Felicity's earlier action of clearing his dishes. Felicity watched as he walked into the kitchen, knitting her eyebrows as she tried to figure out where that comment had come from exactly.

"So where are the cameras," Oliver asked as he walked back toward Felicity. "I assumed you already put them up, but I haven't seen any."

"Oh," Felicity started. "I actually didn't. The ceilings are pretty tall and with this much space we would all need to wear the microphone packs. And well, honestly, the thought of touching you long enough to get one on since we've been here kind of made me want to vomit."

Oliver closed his eyes, his nose crinkling up as he leaned his head down. "I probably could have used the company."

"That is disgusting."

Oliver shrugged, his lips turning up in a small smile. "Well, I'm sorry your film is going to be missing all of the good footage."

"I wouldn't say that. I think the footage from you getting arrested is going to be the highlight really."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Felicity responded, placing her hands inside of the pockets of her jeans. "Or you know, maybe your comeback. Everyone loves a good comeback montage."

"Comeback? And what exactly am I supposed to be coming back from?"

"Alcoholism? Being arrested on stage at your own concert, before your band even plays? Said band being on the verge of what has the ingredients for a really big public break up?" Felicity shrugged, shooting him a slightly sympathetic glance. "Take your pick really."

Oliver just stared at her for a second, his mouth tightening as he tried to process all of the ways she had managed to insult him in less than thirty seconds. "You could have just said something about the five pounds I've gained, with it being beach season and all."

Felicity didn't even bother to try to hide the eye roll or disgusted sigh as she shook her head. "You have enough people in your life lying to you Oliver. And I'm not paid to be one of them."

"I didn't realize you were paid to be a counselor either, Felicity."

"If you don't like my answers, stop asking me questions." Felicity glanced past Oliver to the staircase behind him. "And I'm pretty done with this conversation. I'm going to go try to find some sunscreen and go hang out with your sister."

Felicity walked toward the stairs, ignoring the feeling of Oliver staring at her as she turned around the corner to head toward the room she was staying in. She sighed as she closed the door behind her, shaking her head slightly as she pulled the bottom of her shirt up. The media portrayed Oliver a lot of different ways, but it seemed to fail at portraying how incredibly frustrating he was. She finished changing into her bathing suit, shifting through the clothes in her suitcase to look for something to wear over it.

Pulling out a light pink summer dress, Felicity walked into the bathroom, looking through the drawers for the bottle of sunscreen Thea had pointed out to her the night they had arrived. Finally spotting it in the back of the medicine cabinet, she quickly applied it to her skin. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail as she waited for the lotion to set into her skin before pulling the dress over her head.

She half expected Oliver to still be downstairs when she returned to the landing a minute later. A part of her was slightly disappointed, the part that was expecting and still waiting for him to apologize. She tried to push the thought out of her head, she was starting to think that expecting things from him was only going to lead to disappointment. And it didn't even make sense for her to be expecting things from him. Sure he had apologized once for his behavior and mentioned how he needed a friend. But it wasn't as if he had been frantically making friendship bracelets for them to wear.

Not that she was really expecting him to make her a friendship bracelet, but a part of her expected something out of him. For something to change, or maybe for them to be able to have a ten minute conversation that didn't end with him apologizing. Her face twisted up at the thought. She knew that she wasn't exactly being the easiest person when it came to his behavior, and she couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't so hard on him to begin with, if he would still be so defensive around her.

Her body tingled as she walked outside, the heat warming her skin up from the cool cabin. It amazed her how they could go from one city where it was barely warm enough to get away with just a sweater to a place where she was about to go sunbathing. She walked around the cabin, squinting her eyes against the sunlight as she finally spotted Thea on the dock closest to her.

"What's got you all broody? Trying to take a run for my brother's trophy," Thea asked as Felicity sat down next to her on the dock.

Pulling the sundress over her head, Felicity rolled her eyes. "I think I could brood steadily for twenty four hours and still be nowhere near taking your brother's trophy. He's got a pretty good lock on that category."

Thea raised her eyebrow. "I take it he came out of his room?"

"Yep," Felicity replied, leaning back into the chair and closing her eyes. "He looks better. And I think he showered."

"That gift wasn't enough to make you forgive him for whatever he did to piss you off this morning," Thea asked with a laugh.

"I'm not pissed off."

"You're not happy."

"So, when do we leave for New York," Felicity asked, trying to change the subject."

"Mhmm," Thea hummed out, mostly to prove her point before answering Felicity's question. "We'll probably stay here another night. We could stay a little longer and just get to New York right before the show, but I was sort of planning on spending at least part of the day there. Maybe drag Roy shopping with me."

"I'm sure he'd love that."

"Okay, maybe drag you and Laurel shopping with me."

"That sounds nice." Felicity nodded her head, sitting up slightly in her chair as she heard the dock creak slightly. "This dock isn't going to fall apart on us, is it," Felicity asked, opening her eyes to look at Thea, who seemed to have an oddly demonic look on her face.

A look which she was planning on questioning, if it hadn't of been for Oliver picking her up from her chair and jumping off the edge of the dock with her. Thea's laughter was the last thing she heard before her world was overtaken by water. As she swam toward the surface, all she could think was that somehow Oliver Queen, who was not in any way small or quiet, managed to surprise her and throw her into a lake.

Her mouth opened as soon as she came up from under the water, her lungs working faster than she could think to find oxygen. She glared as her eyes found Oliver's, who was only about five feet away from her, grinning like an idiot. She pulled one of her hands up, pushing it against the water, laughing as she watched the droplets hit him on the chest.

"I cannot believe you did that," Felicity whined. "You don't even know if I can swim."

"You seem to be doing just fine," Oliver replied, splashing water back at her.

"Well, now you know. But you did not know thirty seconds ago when you threw me into a lake."

"Technically I jumped with you."

"You still didn't know that I could swim when you jumped."

"I didn't actually let go of you until you pushed away from me. I assumed you knew what you were doing from there."

"I'm pretty sure flailing in the water is a pretty natural response to some jerk throwing you into it." Felicity laughed, as she tried to avoid the water Oliver was throwing at her.

"I think it all worked out."

"You got lucky. Just imagine how awful this would have been if I couldn't."

Oliver shrugged, a wide grin spreading across his face. "I think I could have saved you. I was on the swim team in high school and a lifeguard."

Felicity made a disgusted face as she pushed more water toward him. "You probably were. That is awful."

Oliver laughed, holding his hands up as the water splashed against him. They swam in silence for a few moments before Oliver moved closer to Felicity. "I'm sorry, by the way."

"For throwing me in the lake," Felicity asked, tilting her head to the side. "You really should be-"

"No," Oliver laughed, shaking his head. "For earlier. I shouldn't have snapped about your answer. You were right. I asked you a question and you had every right to answer it however you wanted."

"Did you mean what you said about us trying to be friends," Felicity asked, pushing back a strand of wet hair from her face. "Or is that just something I should chalk up to Tommy made you apologize and I got fooled by the Oliver Queen charm?"

Oliver's face flushed as he looked down at the water. "I don't know if I meant it then," he paused, looking back up at Felicity. "But I do know that I mean it now."

"Then apology accepted." Felicity gave him a small smile. "But, Oliver, this whole apologizing because you're an ass thing is going to get really old pretty fast."

Oliver sighed. "I know. I could just not apologize," Oliver responded, a playful light filling his eyes as he smiled at her. "Or you could just say nicer things about me."

Felicity rolled her eyes as her hand hit against the water, laughing as Oliver narrowed his eyes at her. "You could just be less of an ass and maybe then I'd have nicer things to say about you."

"I can work on that."

Felicity's attention pulled away from Oliver as she heard Thea jump into the water. She watched as Thea swam toward them, smiling at them both.

"So, I couldn't help but notice that a Felicity versus Oliver water fight seemed a little lopsided. Figured I'd come help a girl out." Thea turned her head to face Felicity, slowly mouthing 'now'.

Felicity laughed, nodding as they both pulled their arms back toward their body to splash Oliver. Oliver moved his arms up instinctively, covering his face from the majority of the water being thrown at him. He lowered his arms down after they finished, a slow smile pulling at his lips as he looked back and forth between the two of them. "Oh, it's on now."

The water fight continued for a while after, until Felicity and Thea's sides hurt from laughing and Felicity swore her arm was going to be sore for a week if they didn't stop. Thea had already gone inside to shower, complaining about how she was going to perpetually smell like lake water if she waited any longer.

Standing on the middle of the dock, Felicity wrapped her arms around her stomach as she tried to will the sun to warm her skin again. Felicity glanced over at Oliver, watching as he placed his towel over his face. She pulled her bottom lip through her teeth as she watched him. The fact that Oliver Queen was gorgeous was not one she really focused on. It was actually usually one that was easy to ignore given his behavior. But watching him then, the sun reflecting off water drops he was attempting to remove, Felicity allowed herself to stare longer than normally would.

She shook her head, closing her eyes. "Did you bring enough towels to share," she asked, opening her eyes.

She smiled at Oliver as he handed her a towel. She began to dry her skin before wrapping it around her body.

She used her fingers to try and comb through her wet hair. Her lips twisted up in frustration as her fingers kept getting caught in her hair as the curls became knots. "I should probably go shower too," she said, nodding her head toward the cabin. "The whole lake water smell isn't really a good smell for anyone and I might need to use two bottles of conditioner before I'm able to brush my hair."

Oliver laughed, stretching his arms back before placing and holding his towel against the back of his neck. "I figured it'd be an improvement for me."

"Using conditioner," Felicity asked, a teasing smile on her face.

"The lake water smell," Oliver responded with a laugh. "I figured this," he paused, waving his hand toward the lake "would count as bathing moment for the day."

Felicity scrunched her nose up as she bent down to pick up her dress. "Bathing in lakes doesn't count as a bathing moment when you have a cabin with five state-of-the-art showers. Showering regularly in one is not really the worst thing you could do."

"I'm sure it breaks one of the rules in the rockstar handbook," Oliver replied as he followed alongside her back to the cabin.

"There's a handbook?"

"Of course there is," Oliver said in a teasing voice. "How else do you think we all end up being the same cliché?"